FRINGEREVIEW:WEREWOLVES, PIGTAILS, GLUTTONY

Darkness descends on the small village of Millers Hollow and in the night, werewolves roam looking for their next victim. Who will be slaughtered next? Can the villagers find out who amongst them is hiding their identity before it’s too late?

This is the premise for game-master Nicholas Phillips’ interactive roleplaying game Werewolves, where you don’t see the narrative unfold before you, you are part of it. Commencing at 11.15pm, it was no surprise that several participants were liquored up, but it made breaking the ice easier.

Moderated by a Phillips, a bearded man wearing spectacles and a black fur cloak who could be mistaken for a werewolf himself, the participants sat in a circle surrounding Phillips throughout the game.

To kick things off, the host showed everyone a series of cards. Each card had a character –multiple villagers, the hunter, the witch, the seer, cupid, the peeping girl and werewolves. Each participant received a character card which they didn’t share with anyone (I was the Hunter) and kept face down at their feet for the duration of the game.

After the characters had been dealt, this is when the story began, and the body count started to rise. The moderator talked everyone through the going-on of the “night”, a time where all participants had to keep their eyes closed unless summoned by the moderator. Werewolves slayed a person per night and then upon awakening in the “day” fingers were pointed and each character votes who they believe one of the werewolves is. The person with the highest number of votes is accused of being a werewolf.

I love a good murder mystery, so this game was right up my alley. It was fun to put my sleuth hat on for the night and denunciate strangers. There were bandwagons to ride on, serious vocal strategists and of course there was a comedian in the group who had written “Dr. Spermy” on his name-tag causing undue attention and votes cast his way. It also happened to be a full moon the night I went so everyone was a bit loony.

If you’re a fan of organised fun I highly recommend this interactive experience. It could also double as a great dinner party game.

4 stars

Werewolves is showing on various dates at the Coventry Library in Stirling and Pigtails at Gluttony until March 17. Pick up your tickets here.